Dangote deploys technology, training to curb truck crashes, impr...

Dangote Cement has intensified the deployment of advanced safety technologies, including cameras and real-time monitoring devices, across its truck fleet as part of efforts to improve driver behaviour and reduce road crashes involving its vehicles.

The company said the technology was being complemented by intensive driver training, strict enforcement of safety protocols and reward systems for drivers who maintain accident-free records.

The Head of Operations, Dangote Cement Ibese Plant, Ogun State, David Idiege, disclosed this on Thursday during a press briefing on the company’s road safety initiatives.

Idiege said the measures were designed to give the company greater visibility and control over the activities of its trucks and drivers while on the road.

With more than 4,000 trucks operating from the Ibese plant, he said Dangote Cement had invested in state-of-the-art monitoring devices capable of tracking vehicles in real time and identifying unsafe driving practices.

“That is why we have cameras in our trucks and state-of-the-art technologies that make us see in real time what is happening in any of our trucks at every material time,” he said.

He identified speeding and proxy driving, where authorised drivers hand over trucks to unauthorised persons, among the safety violations being targeted by the monitoring system.

“Proxy driving, cases where our drivers give the truck to some other person to drive for them, and the company has stringent sanctions applied to any driver caught in proxy driving,” Idiege said.

He noted that environmental conditions, including bad weather, could also contribute to road incidents, making constant monitoring and driver vigilance essential.

Beyond technology, Idiege said the company was improving driver competence by engaging some of its best-performing drivers as safety ambassadors to train and mentor their colleagues.

“We also have a very good rewards system for those who drive diligently without getting involved in accidents. Aside from the rewards and certificates, we also bring those best drivers up to train their colleagues,” he said.

The Head of Human Resources, Dangote Cement, Muhammed Al-Hassan, said driver development remained a critical component of the company’s road safety strategy, stressing that only properly trained drivers were allowed to operate its trucks.

He said the company had also institutionalised monthly and annual recognition programmes to encourage safe driving.

“For instance, a driver who has been driving without getting involved in accidents is rewarded monthly,” Al-Hassan said.

He added that during the company’s annual Safety Day, the driver with the best accident-free record would be honoured as the “Safety Person of the Year” and rewarded in line with the organisation’s policies.

While the company maintains disciplinary measures for breaches of safety rules, Al-Hassan said its overall approach was focused on combining enforcement with training, monitoring and incentives to promote a stronger safety culture.

He disclosed that more than 250 drivers had been sanctioned for various safety violations between 2025 and 2026.

Idiege also clarified that not every truck bearing the Dangote brand remained under the company’s direct operational control.

According to him, some trucks previously owned by Dangote had been leased to customers and were now operated by those customers. He added that trucks no longer under the company’s management had been de-branded.

At the Ibese Plant Control Room, the company’s Head of Control, Ifeanyi Eziri, later took journalists through the monitoring and tracking systems used to supervise trucks and drivers operating across the country.

He also demonstrated the procedures used to remotely demobilise vehicles when safety violations are detected.

The company said the combination of smart monitoring technology, driver training, safety ambassadors, real-time surveillance and incentives for responsible driving was aimed at strengthening its safety culture and reducing truck-related accidents on Nigerian roads.